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Mini-case study

Creation of a common offer by a mix of actors of a destination in order to reduce the seasonality in ski stations of Wallis – Comparison between Anniviers Liberté & Multipass Portes du Soleil

INTRODUCTION

Passes giving you access to activities and transports in a given area have been created in Wallis in order to attract more tourists to ski station destination in summer, because they are suffering from the seasonality. It is quite obvious that the ski station need to cover the fees of their cable ways, especially in summer, when their main purpose (transporting skiers to the top of mountain) can’t be achieve. But as said before, they are also trying to make more benefit from other types of activities which are usually practiced by locals, such as going to swimming pool, mini-golf or tennis. These attractions haven’t all been built originally especially for tourists, but promoting these will help the local economy by the input of foreign money. Some activities are more touristic oriented, such as visiting a cheese fabric or a barrage.

These passes have been created in collaboration with the actor of the tourism destination. Of course it took a long time and a lot of effort to make the local business realize the benefits they could get in return. They are actually “paid-back” through the stay-over taxes paid from the tourist, or directly by the tourism office who are charging for the pass ( these different situations will be explained below), but they don’t get as much as if the tourists would have bought a direct ticket for their offer. However, the regional tourism organization convince them that the local economy would profit from that, the region will be more successful, more people will come and a long time benefit is to expect. And even if the margin doesn’t increase their revenue as much as if tourist would pay full price, they still get more benefit than if they had to close the installation because of a lack of users.

ANNIVIERS LIBERTE

Anniviers Liberté appears first in 2012, but it took almost 4 years to realize the formula the six communal administrations (see index below) working together are offering (to gather the different touristic actors, explain them the process and make them agree to it). This is the regional tourism organization which created the formula and worked on it. The formula is the following: it is based on the stay-over taxes that the tourists should pay when they sleep in the region of Anniviers. But not all of them do register them-self in the tourism office, at least not when they are renting a flat. So the formula will encourage them to pay them, because if they do, they’ll get a lot of advantages from these activities (20 of them, which are listed in the index). This pass is willing to convince visitors that the benefits of the pass are greater than the cost of taxes. It will of course also increase the attractiveness of the area and bring more tourists.

The rules are the following: if you are declaring your-self for a single night, you will get a pass which allow you one day of advantages, and you can choose whenever you’d like to use it. But if you are staying for at least two consecutive days, you can obtain a pass for the length of your stay. They also offer the possibility for locals to get it for a fix price (50.- adults/ 20.- children). Of course these cards are nominative, so you can’t exchange or resell them. They also warn you that even if the pass is from June to October, the activities may not all be open during the whole time.

MULTIPASS PORTES DU SOLEIL

It does exist since 2010 and as it is already in place since two years, the number of activities expends every year to reach now the number of 50. The area includes 14 communal administrations working together. They are not working on the basis of multipass offered when the stay-over taxes are paid, but also try to get tourist to pay them. Their system is built that way: if you are staying at one of the partner hotel, you can get the multipass for 3CHF a day, and if you are not, you can get it for 13.5CHF. It is also possible to get it for the whole season, for tourists as for inhabitants for the price of 162CHF. Of course the cards are nominative. If the tourist is staying in a hotel, they will be registered in the communal administration and will have to pay the taxes. That’s why the price is more advantageous for those who use these hotel as for these who sleep by friends or rent a flat for example.

So it is observable that more than making the tourist paying the taxes, they want the tourist to come to this area and stay by the partner hotels/camping/… Their first goal is to full the hotels in the summer time (9th of June – 9th of September) and avoid seasonality for the accommodations, then come of course in a more general way the desire of having tourist visiting the area during the summer time and consuming in the local shops, using the installations in order to make them more rentable and increase in a general way the local economy.

COMPARISONS

Number of communal administrations included in the project:

As the Portes du Soleil are the biggest ski resort in Europe, it is understandable that there will be more communal administrations involved (14) in the creation of the offer than in le Val d’Anniviers (6), which is not as big. The Portes du Soleil are also international, as a part of the domain is in France.

Activities offered:

Of course, as the Portes du Soleil have a bigger area covered, they will be able to offer more activities (50) to their guests than le Val d’Anniviers (50). But the core of the activities (see index) stay pretty similar, as the geography and culture of the area don’t change much (even if Les Portes du Soleil is an international area, it is still an alpin one).

The way they are marketing their offer is pretty similar. The value proposition (maximum and activities and fun in a easy to use package) really target the same groups of consumers for both destination. Even the way they illustrate their offer is close; the logo upon is an example (both green as a wink to the nature), here are some pictures used on their websites (PICTURES MISSING ON THE TIA)

Prices:

The Portes du Soleil have a greater offer so they can ask the tourists to pay more for it and that’s what they are doing. In comparison with the standard formula of Anniviers, you have to pay an extra cost in order to access to the activities. This price is cheaper when you sleep by a partner of the formula, which should lead the tourists to choose one on them and increase the incomes from hotel in summer. As Anniviers is new and maybe less attractive (smaller, less well-known), they are not even trying to make the tourists pay more than they should, they just want more flow in their area and the taxes to be paid.

CONCLUSION

Are the efforts spent in the creation of these multipasses rewarded? As Anniviers Liberté is younger in the process it is difficult to tell now what the impact will be. But for the Portes du Soleil, we can see a general trend growing and, even if there isn’t a consequent growth in the rate of tourist, the general satisfaction about the area is better.